Breathing new life into Black Country Brownfield land
The University of Wolverhampton’s Brownfield Research and Innovation Centre has joined forces with land regeneration activists, Land Hero, to showcase the region’s former industrial brownfield sites with the aim of giving these redundant pieces of land a new lease of life.
With a long industrial heritage, the Black Country faces a real challenge when it comes to re-developing the many former brownfield sites that are currently sitting dormant. But in a move announced today, more than 1,100 of these potential development gems will now be highlighted through a unique search tool on one of the UK’s leading land databases, Land Hero, shining a spotlight on opportunities in the region in a bid to attract developers.
Launched in May 2020 online database, Land Hero is the brainchild of Hagley-based firm Land Attic. With thousands of visitors every month and over 10,000 potential sites currently listed, its primary mission is to enlist the public in spotting and reporting potential development sites. These redundant parcels of land and derelict properties could be regenerated and put to better use whilst connecting developers to these opportunities.
It’s a first for Land Hero to partner with a project like BRIC as Ben Tibbetts, director, explains: “Being West Midlands based ourselves, we’ve watched BRIC’s work with great interest as it’s such a great initiative to help get the former industrial sites of the Black Country back into effective use. We are pleased to partner with them and offer a bespoke search tool that will enable us to highlight their sites to our national audience of developers and land buyers, to hopefully build a brighter future for the region.”
A University of Wolverhampton initiative with funding from the European Regional Development Fund Programme, BRIC provides a free support to Black Country SMEs who need help with any aspect of brownfield regeneration. With the main aim of getting brownfield sites back into economic use, the agency offers initial business support, detailed research and development support as Dr Tony West, Knowledge Transfer manager at the University of Wolverhampton's Brownfield Research and Innovation Centre, explained: “The Black Country has been hit hard over recent years and so it’s great that we’re able to support local businesses to get disused sites back into action. We’re delighted that Land Hero has developed a specialist search tool that specifically highlights the land opportunities we have in the region as it’s this level of national exposure that really showcases what we have to offer.”
The new search tool enables visitors to specifically search for BRIC sites to highlight the opportunities that are available in the Black Country.
For more information or support from BRIC visit: https://www.wlv.ac.uk/BRIC or for more information on Land Hero visit: https://landattic.com/land-hero
